Yuddy's annual pick-a-nick

State Senator John Yudichak's end of summer picnic at the Plains PAV was another roaring success. It was a salute to labor and was attended by the working men and women in his district and beyond. The unions were out in force but so were people who don't have union representation in their workplace but wish they did. It was of course a political rally and many elected officials and candidates attended. The official program was mercifully short with Luzerne County Democratic Chair John Pekerovsky doing the introductions and Yuddy as the MC. Congressman Matt Cartwright , candidate Denny Wolff  and US Senator Bob Casey offered some brief remarks. Like the event with Gov. Wolf on Tuesday you could feel the energy of the local Dems.

Runs with Scissors

Our neighbor Alisha  just relocated her hair salon Runs with Scissors    to her home at 1 West Stanton St. in Plains. The place has a storefront that used to house Kupstas Market that was known for some of the best Kielbasa in NEPA. She has done an amazing job revamping the retail space and even turned the meat locker into a bathroom. Today she had a grand reopening that clogged up all the parking in the neighborhood because she has so many loyal clients and friends.

Hair cutting is one of the few local "Mom And Pop" businesses still left but even they are under attack by chains such as Supercuts. We are lucky in Plains that we still have local family owned businesses such as the best butcher shop around in Plains Meat Market and Sheehan's Pharmacy.

All the girls tell me Alisha and her crew do a great job. Now if she would only learn to make Kielbasa.

More photos at my FB page

Recycle the Turkey Day dinner

Leftovers are good on Friday but get old by Saturday. After the care packages are packed up for the relatives there is still a bunch of ham and turkey to deal with.Our system has worked for the past few years. The turkey scraps are divided between a turkey pot pie and turkey salad that we take for lunch for the following weeks. The ham goes to Mrs. G's mom because she makes a ham casserole that will knock your socks off. For some reason  we never have any left over Kielbasa that we got from the Plains Meat Market.

Plains Township

Total Vote count Plains Twp Commissioner (vote for 2)

Jerry Yozwiak (dem) 1,011 votes 37.70% of total votes

Robert Sax (dem) 1,009 votes 37.62% of total votes

Barry Kresge Jr (rep) 402 votes 14.99% of total votes

Allan Ciprich (rep) 259 votes 9.66% of total votes

write-in 1 votes 0.04% of total votes

 

Pennsylvania exit poll

We were the 186th and 187th voters in our local polling place out of  about 1000. What a terrible turnout. On the way in there was only 2 poll workers and Plains Twp.plus  incumbent Commissioners Robert Sax and Jerry Yozwiak. I have long said that the only poll workers that matter in a local race is the candidates themselves.

 But in this case they were not going to persuade me. They both voted to kick back $3 million of slots money back to the Mohegan Sun to pave the parking lot over the last few years. Then they asked for $1 Million  of slots money to finance an upgrade to the Woodlands. I voted for Barry Kresge.

Being the contrarian that I am I usually vote no on retaining a Judge but in this case I actually voted Yes for State Supreme Court Justices Ron Castille and Max Baer and No on the other 2. What persuaded me was the Tea Party groups and Sue Henry said they opposed them because they blocked the Voter ID law. It should be trashed as it's a solution in search of a problem that will keep people from voting. For all the jokes we make about dead people voting in Pittston it just doesn't happen. Absentee ballots are another matter. All my life I have heard the lament that enough people don't vote (like today) so they want to make it harder. Elections are a bad way to pick appellate judges see Choose Judges on Meirt

Kathy Bozinski reported "that for the first time ever our reporters were told it's illegal to take generic, non-invasive shots inside polling places, and were turned away, or told to shoot through a window. I can't count how many live shots I've done inside the polling place... Is this something new?... We've learned its a regulation that is decided by the County Solicitor, and for apparently the first time, he decided to invoke it for this election."  I saw Pete from the TL at our polling place tonight taking photos and I snapped a few.

The Luzerne  County Website has  a link for election results that looks pretty good. You can tailor the races you are interest in. The thing is they had to go to a vendor to do something that was done in house and worked flawlessly until last spring.  Another waste of money. I like Walter Griffith but the pissing contest that he got into with Lenny Piazza that the county manager Bob Lawton  overreacted to  is costing us money and aggravation

And another ballot screw up

.

One less Democrat on W-B Twp. council ballot

Life in Plains Twp is good

I awoke to the wonderful sound of beeping trucks and heavy equipment ripping up West Stanton Street this morning. Another street in Plains will be paved thanks to the money from the Mohegan Sun casino. I've never been in the place but thanks to the revenue from it our streets look better, trash bags are cheap and the police and fire departments have new equipment.

Thank you suckers.

Mrs. G says I avoid the casino because I'm afraid I would like it. She is probably right.

Barry Kresge for Plains Twp Commissioner

Plains is a great place to live. For the most part crime is low with most of it being a domestic dispute, the Turkey Hill getting robbed or some nonsense at the Moghegan Sun or The Woodlands. Our streets are being paved and the price of trash bags was reduced because of the windfall from the Casino. That being said not everything is perfect and we can always use some improvement.

Barry Kresge is the GOP nominee for Supervisor:

My name is Barry Kresge, Jr. My ambition is to become one of the five commissioners this coming November. Like you, I care about where I live and I would like to play an integral part in helping our community grow stronger and brighter for all residents of today and tomorrow. Below, I would like to address a few issues that I would fiercely attempt to accomplish with the support of the township residents.

FIRST: I propose we put aside a percentage of the income we receive from the casino to start a "Rainy Day Fund." The current board of commissioners bought new DPW equipment, trucks, police cars and other items that the township needed. But in turn, cost the township a significant amount of dollars. We as a township receive a formidable amount of dollars each year from the casino. I would like to put those dollars toward projects that may prove to be beneficial to residents. The township made ends meet before the casino. The extra cash flow should be used to improve our community, make it safer and a more desirable place to live.

Second: I propose we revise and potentially change out recycling program. Right now, Plains offers curb side pickup only once a month. Or, we can drop off recycling at the DPW, yet this is inconvenient for many of us. As such, even Saturday hours are difficult to make when we lead such hectic lives. Many households try to recycle as much as possible. But we find some months we don't have enough space to store all of the recyclables. I would like to convert to two recycling pickups a month (every other week), and switch to single stream recycling. This would allow residents to put everything in one container and have it picked all at the same time. This plan has the potential to save the Township money relative to manpower hours and fule making our recycling greener simultaneously.

Third: I want to spruce up our neighborhoods throughout the Township, by giving our roads more attention and potentially adding sidewalks where that improvement is needed. Along with other measures, the "Rainy Day Fund" would play a key roll in financing these and other long and short term projects.

I would like to thank you very much for your time. I thank you in advance for your support in this upcoming election day. Without your vote I can't proceed to make proposals related to making changes for the better.

Help make these ideas a reality and help take back the Township from one party rule!!! 

 

 

The other guys

 

6th District get together

The Luzerne County 6th District Republican Committee has an end of the year party tomorrow. This should be the kickoff event of the 2013 local elections.

There are 4 seats on the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board up for election  next year and candidates can cross file so this would be a good event for any prospective Republican or Democratic hopeful to attend.

County wide there are 5 spots up on the County Council with 2 Republican incumbents and Controller Walter Griffith is running for reelection.  Plains Township will be electing 2 Commissioners.

Details on the Facebook page

6TH DISTRICT REPUBLICAN END OF YEAR HO-HO-HOLIDAY SOCIAL !

Enjoy Holiday music and a good home cooked meal ! ! !

When: Sunday, December 30, 2012
Where: Wilkes-Barre Twp. Fire Hall
150 Watson St., Wilkes-Barre Twp., PA.
Time: 4pm-7pm


 

Corporate welfare for the Woodlands

The split of the revenue from slot machines at Mohegan Sun is 55% to the state and 45% to the casino. Much less goes to the state from table games. Only 34% is earmarked for school property tax relief which is the reason this was sold to us. Wilkes-Barre Area taxpayers have seen a reduction of about $200 a year since this started. The host communities get a cut off the top to pay for increased police costs, etc but there are 2 other pools of money. 12% is dedicated to the dying horse racing industry and there is pot of gold that local governments can apply for.

In past years the Plains Township Commissioners have applied to kick back $3 million to Mohegan to clean up the East Side Landfill so they could pave the parking lot and The Commonwealth Financing Authority approved it.

Now the board of Bridgette Murray O'Connor, Ciro Cinti, Ron Fillipini, Joe Yozwiak and Robert Sax   has  unanimously approved an application by The Woodlands to grab a piece of the pie. According to this story in the TL by Andrew Seder the Woodlands management will be  knocking down cottages on the Woodlands property just north of the hotel and conference center’s building along Route 315.
In their place would be built a multilevel building with commercial/office space on the lower floors and apartments on the upper floors. 

It's a $40 million project that not been even put on the drawing board yet let alone submitted for zoning or other approval. The Kornfelds did not return  phone calls from Andrew or me. (Disclaimer: I once worked for the Kornfelds).

I have a novel idea. If the Kornfleds want to expand/upgrade their business they should go to a bank and apply for a loan.

In 2013 there will be 2 spots up on the board of the Plains Commissioners. The incumbents are Robert Sax and Jerry Woziak. 

I still remember when it was the Treadway Inn

 

Casino money for the Woodlands

The good news in this TL story for the people in my little burgh of Plains Township is that our property taxes will not go up. The question is why aren't they being reduced as promised.
Being the host community of the Mohegan Sun Casino Plains get's a cut off the top for putting up with the place to cover extra police costs, etc. We have seen some benefits such as reduced garbage fees and more roads paved.

Rapid Edward (Gov Rendell) sold Casino gambling as a way of reducing school property taxes but only half the revenue goes to to that worthy goal. There is another pot of money for the health, safety and economic development projects in those counties where the casinos are located.

 In the past the Plains Twp Board of Commissioners have kicked backed a million dollars a year to the Casino to pave the parking lot that is located on top of the old East Side Landfill neglecting other needs such as purchasing a new ladder truck for the fire department. Kevin Blaum documented that a few years ago. Such nonsense, we are supposed to make money off the place not subsidize it.

Sure enough, there was an application on DCED’s list for $5 million, half the amount available, to remove garbage from Mohegan Sun land to enlarge its parking lot. Obviously Mohegan is capable of paying for its own paving and garbage removal. Yet this project survived DCED’s initial cut (an official act) while many projects in other communities did not.
It’s important to note that a casino may not apply for this money. If it did, it would be laughed out of town. ...To end-run this prohibition, the application was submitted by none other than Plains Township (an official act). This application, if approved, would return $5 million to Mohegan Sun at the expense of other municipalities that need these funds.
Why would anyone do such a thing? Follow the money.

Now they are at it again.

The township is serving as sponsor for expansion projects for the Woodlands Inn & Resort and Geisinger Wyoming Valley. Board President Ron Filippini described the government sponsorship of the grant applications for private entities as economic measures intended to spur job creation.


That's it, no details of what the projects are or how many jobs they are going to create. How do you measure this? It sounds like more corporate welfare.

Giving money to the Woodlands ???? Really?

The Woodlands is a kids bar that keeps our police very busy defeating the purpose of having this extra money. How many stabbings , shootings, acts of vandalism and other displays of beer muscles have there been over the years? The place is in the police blotter all the time. Similar incidents at other establishments in other parts of the Wyoming Valley have resulted in the places being shut down as nuisance bars.

Pennsylvania Exit Polls

There were no poll workers outside the Plains Twp. fire hall when I was recorded as voter number 550 out of 1000+ at about 5:30PM today. This is the best turnout I have seen in the 15 years I  have voted in this precinct. This is even better than 2008 and Plains is a very Democratic area. The poll workers are people Mrs. G has known since she was a child and looked us up as soon as we walked up to the sign in table so we didn't show a photo ID and neither did anyone else who voted before of after us. I have never voted a straight party ticket and didn't this time. I wrote in David Yonki for State Rep because Eddie Day Pashiniski is unopposed and I hate uncontested elections.

Bridge to Nowhere

James May and PennDOT are off the hook.

I'm not the only one frustrated by the lack of progress on the 1st Street bridge in Plains Twp.

This is what it looked like 2 weeks ago.

Today the only difference is some orange spray paint. Although the road on both sides of it has been paved.

Plains Twp. Commissioner says don't blame us.

PLAINS TWP. -- Board of Commissioners Chairman Ronald Filippini announced Thursday night that the First Street Bridge, in the Hudson section, is scheduled to reopen on Oct. 30.
The bridge, which crosses over Mill Creek on one of the main streets that connects the township with Wilkes-Barre, has been closed for more than a month, despite initial Luzerne County engineering estimates that the bridge would be closed for only one week.
Several residents complained about the paving and repair project at the township’s regular September meeting. Filippini acknowledged their frustration and said the township has little control over the county project.

So if this a county project how do you explain this sign?

Road Rage

As I pointed out in a post last weekend First Street is closed in the Hudson section of Plains but the repairs to the RR crossing in Laflin is complete so I'm not trapped despite the efforts of that evil PennDoT government  bureaucrat James May who wants to restrict my freedom.

The First Street sidewalk repairs are done then they moved on to fixing the bridge over Gardner's Creek but there has not been much progress.


Here is a picture of the bridge last weekend.

This is a picture of the bridge today.

Nothing has happened in a weeks time.

These people are taking credit for this project.

New Luzerne County GOP chairman

In a bit of a surprise Kingston attorney Bill Urbanski was elected as Luzerne County Republican chairman defeating incumbent Terry Casey 79-72 at the party convention Sunday at Genetti's.


Casey was elected in 2008 succeeding Lynette Vilano. and it's fair to say that his record has been more hits than misses. In 2007 the Luzerne County Republicans lost EVERY contested county election. Their only winner that year was Steve Urban because one Republican had to be on the board of commissioners. His first move was hiring Renita Fennick as executive director who was able to deal with the various factions and got people to work together. A year round headquarters was opened in downtown Wilkes-Barre with space donated by a real estate outfit and he got the back mountain money boys to kick in some bucks to pay for it all. It paid off in the 2009 county elections when the Republicans won 2 out 3 of the Row Offices up that year. In 2010 the focus was getting Lou Barletta elected to Congress that was helped by the national wave.

Elections for the county council under the new Home Rule form of government was on the ballot in 2011 and the Republicans snagged 4 of the 11 seats and Stefanie Salavatis knocked off DA JAckie Mo. Not bad for a party that has been on the outside for a long time with a significant deficit in registrations.

 But some Republicans said they should have done better after all the corruption that has seen a slew of Democrats go to jail. Some have complained that the county party didn't help out municipal candidates enough particularly in Wilkes-Barre but that is not the focus of the county party.

The county Republicans haven't been able to fill all of the committee spots and got a big black eye when a race hater wrote himself in for one of them.One of my Republican friends said it was not a priority to recruit county committee members but 6th District honcho James O'Meara said he tried his best to get people to sign up without much success.

Bill Urbanski sounds like a Republican populist if there is such a thing CV: "My vision is simple: do away with unnecessary expenditures and bureaucracies and build a more inclusive county Republican Party," Urbanski said. "Too often committee members and even average voters feel as though they are on the outside looking in, or what may be worse, on the bottom looking up. In my mind, the contributions made by the rank-and-file members of the GOP are just as important as the contributions made by those in positions of power."

It looks like Kingston Mayor Jim Haggerty is the next coming of Marty Murray on the Republican side. He wrote the Home Rule Charter and now this.  "Winning the Republican county election is proof of your grassroots ability," Haggerty said.

Bill's brother posted this picture  :

Update: James O'Meara corrects me in the comments..

Actually, Gort, this year we were successful in the 6th getting new committee members. We have filled 8 of 10 slots in Plains, for example, and I will find people for the other two slots. It was similar throughout the rest of the 6th District. Recruiting those slots is a primary duty of a District Chair, so the empty slots ...and the responsibility to fill them ...are my responsibility.

Bloggers are reluctant and accidental Committeemen

In the 2010 primary election DB Echo of Another Monkey was elected as a Luzerne County Democratic Committeeman from Nanticoke. By his own admission he was "written in by a friend as a joke and won."  To his credit he has taken his responsibilities as an officer of the party seriously going to as many meetings that he can make. He even keeps local Bloggers informed of the activities of the outfit even if the Chair is apprehensive about letting Bloggers know what is going on.

Now the Blogfather may become a Republican Committeeman in Wilkes-Barre.He got a vote or 2 but so did someone else.

GOP committee races to be decided

Most, if not all, ties occurred because no candidates filed paperwork to get their names on the ballot. Voters wrote in names on the electronic voting machines, prompting multiple people to receive the same number of votes, in some cases one vote each....The election office will choose winners using numbered balls shaken in a container. Balls will be picked for candidates who don’t appear.

He looked at mounting a serious campaign after being encouraged  but got sidetracked because of the loss of a family member. He has never been high on the local Republican Party saying  I took my unexpected call to join the local GOP scrum as the equivalent of being General George Armstrong Custer's replacement bugler during that final gallop into history. Sad, but blatantly honest on my part. 

If he does win the ping pong ball selection and follows through he will be as welcomed at a 6th District Republican Committee meeting like ants at a picnic. 

A few years ago some people wanted me to run for Democratic Committeeman in my little corner of Plains Twp. to replace  the invisible man, a guy that lives a block away but never met. I took a pass because of my work schedule and blogging activities. I'm glad I did because now my committee guy is Thom Shibula .He also was elected to the state committee and will be a delegate to the DNC in Charlotte. Thom does the work of an old fashion  local precinct captain like dropping off yard signs at my house. I haven't heard if he could deliver a ton of coal.

Pennsylvania exit poll

A grand total of only two poll workers was outside the Plains Twp. firehall when I was recorded as voter number 146 out of 1000+ at about 4:30PM today. This is the worst turnout I have seen in the 15 years I  have voted in this precinct. It's hard to say who's campaign this helps or hurts but it means we are all losers when so few people bother to participate in the process of selecting our leaders. The poll workers are people Mrs. G has known since she was a child and looked us up as soon as we walked up to the sign in table so we didn't show a photo ID. We capped off the afternoon of doing our civic duty by paying our property taxes at the collectors office. We turned around our IRS refund by using that money to pay the county and township taxes. Great timing.

Mike Carroll voted for the Congressional gerrymander

I'm surprised that there has not been more outrage over the new Congressional districts approved by the state legislature in the print and electronic media. But the reaction has been "so what, that's the way it is." Much like the national press accepting that every bill in the Senate needs 60 votes to pass without pointing out that the filibuster was rarely used in the past. The only people who are kicking up a fuss are bloggers.

Pittston State Rep Mike Carroll (D-118) voted for the new Congressional map joining 36 other Democrats in the PA legislature and 128 Republicans to approve it. I only met Carroll once at the 1st Blogfest so I don't know why he wants Republicans to win more elections to the US House of Representatives. Maybe he is looking to run for Congress in the future in the now Democratic friendly 17th CD when/if Tim Holden retires.

In the next election the 118th includes my little burgh of Plains Twp. and I'm open to helping a real Democratic primary challenger and if that fails maybe even a (shudder) Republican candidate. I'm not a one issue voter like the abortion hotheads or gun nuts but this vote betrays his party and the people of the the 11th Congressional District.

See NEPartisan for a Lackawanna County perspective


Selling Out PA in NEPA: Ken Smith, Sid Kavulich, Ed Staback

PA State House redistricting

Late this afternoon the new boundaries for the Pennsylvania State House and Senate were revealed. As usual Borys is on top of what it means for Lackawanna and Luzerne counties with a list of what towns will be switching districts. It's hard to visualize without a map to actually look at but I'm sure our local papers will have them tomorrow.

I don't cover Lackawanna County much so I will leave it to my friends at NEPartisan to analyze what this means to citizens north of the border with the move of the 115th to Monroe County and 117th and 118th that have been mostly in Luzerne County getting chunks of Lackawanna.

The 120th represented by Phyllis Mundy appears to have the least change picking up Edwardsville from the 117th which makes it a bit more Democratic as far a registration goes.

Mike Carroll's 118th seat has Monroe County towns taken out and is moving both north and south. According to this Plains Township will now be in the 118th despite being in the 121st for a long time and will now snake up to include some Lackawanna towns such as Moscow. I know both towns and they have different concerns. I live in Plains and we have more in common with W-B than Moscow or Pittston.

The 121st (Eddie Day Pashinski) will still be centered on Wilkes-Barre and W-B Township but will move south to include a part of Mountaintop, more of Hanover and throw in Laurel Run, Sugar Notch and Warrior Run. Ashley moves to the 119th ( I'm not sure how they pulled that one off) and the district makes into the Hazleton Area that has freshman Rep. Gerry Mullery objecting.

I only looked at 3 of the traditional 6 House Districts in Luzerne County and have yet to look at the Senate bounderies but is apparent that the people drawing the lines ignored geography, the common interests of the people invovled and common sense.

It may take 10 years but it would be good idea to take the redistricting process out of the hands of the politicians. Much as I advocate Judge's on Merit. Sometimes we need less politics deciding the ground rules.

Pennsylvania exit poll

Me and Mrs. G were voters number 313 and 314 around 5Pm at our polling place at the Plains Twp. fire hall out of 1000+. There were a number of poll workers handing out palm cards for Judge, County Council, DA and state offices. For the most part I think handing out cards at polling place is a waste of time as most people already have made up their minds. We ran into Luzerne County Council candidate Eileen Sorokas and W-B Area School board hopefull Dino Galella. In a local election I think the candidate can pick up a vote or 2 just by being available to answer questions for people heading into the polling place.

In the unscientific poll of Gort 42 readers you are predicting 2 close races.

The Luzerne County District Attorney contest Stefie Salve is leading Jackie Mo by a hair

Carroll 51 47%

Salavantis 57 52%

Wilkes-Barre Mayor

Tom Leighton 40 45%

Lisa Cope 38 43%

Betsy Summers 9 10%



A sample of the paraphanalia

James O'Meara Sr. for Plains Township Commissioner

Tomorrow my neighbors and I will select 3 people out of 4 candidates running for Commissioner in my little burgh of Plains, PA. Plains is a great place to live. For the most part crime is low with most of it being a domestic dispute, the Turkey Hill getting robbed or some nonsense at the Moghegan Sun and/or The Woodlands. Our streets are being paved and the price of trash bags was reduced because of the windfall from the Casino. That being said not everything is perfect and we can always use some improvement.

In addition to the host municipality fee Plains Township gets for putting up with the casino there is another pot of money for the health, safety and economic development projects in those counties where the casinos are located. In the last 3 years the Plains Twp Board of Commissioners have kicked backed a million dollars a year to the Casino to pave the parking lot that is located on top of the old East Side Landfill neglecting other needs such as purchasing a new ladder truck for the fire department. Kevin Blaum documented that a few years ago. Such nonsense, we are supposed to make money off the place not subsidise it.

Sure enough, there was an application on DCED’s list for $5 million, half the amount available, to remove garbage from Mohegan Sun land to enlarge its parking lot. Obviously Mohegan is capable of paying for its own paving and garbage removal. Yet this project survived DCED’s initial cut (an official act) while many projects in other communities did not.
It’s important to note that a casino may not apply for this money. If it did, it would be laughed out of town. ...To end-run this prohibition, the application was submitted by none other than Plains Township (an official act). This application, if approved, would return $5 million to Mohegan Sun at the expense of other municipalities that need these funds.
Why would anyone do such a thing? Follow the money.

Another old story that bugs me but nothing ever came of it.

From SOP: More Corruption Allegations In Luzerne County: Plains Township

According to Andy Mehalshick, lead I-Team investigator, Pennsylvania State Police are looking into allegations of use or misuse of taxpayer-funded equipment and township employees with particular focus on the Department of Public Works. The township is now conducting an internal investigation. Steven Menn of Plains Township says, “As I understand it the board is going to do an internal investigation to find out what is going on. That information has to be looked into, and who’s making that complaint and what actual allegations are, I don't believe we have all the information of those involved or who is making the complaint."One Township Commissioner, Ron Fillipini, stated he supported an independent investigation by an agency such as the State Police.

I've never seen the report of the so called independent investigation. I asked the DPW people that I know about this but they wouldn't confirm or deny anything. One said I just can't talk about it.


2 of the Democrats were also able to snag Republican write-in nominations, long time Commish Brigid Murray O'Conner and Ciro Cinti. Ron Filippini is other incumbent. It s nice club if you can be invited to join. There is one outsider running and I hope he shakes it up.

James O'Meara Sr

He answers the most important question:

I will oppose gas drilling in Plains Township. That’s as plain as I can say it.

Closing statement:


My name is James O’Meara Sr. and I’ve been a resident of Plains Township since 1984 when I married my wife, Ann M arie, from the Keystone section of Plains. Both of my children were born and raised here, and both still reside here (my daughter at home, and my son and his family just across the yard).

I attended Penn State as an undergraduate from 1975 through 1978. I left to work full-time. I also attended College Misericordia during the early years of my marriage, and left to work full-time to support a growing family. In short, I have a pile of college credits but never got the sheepskin. I don’t regret that one bit. That decision led me to where I am today, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.

Over the years, I have advanced in my career through hard work and my own initiative. I haven't been afraid to take chances. I follow some advice my father gave me: Always bite off a little more than you think you can chew. I’ve worked at US Foods in Pittston since 1995, and my father’s advice has served me well during my time there. I’ve had to tackle complex problems and respond to challenges that were difficult at times, but always exciting. I worked my way up from a computer tech to the manager of a department that at one time was responsible for the data operations of three warehouses in three states.
If there is one lesson I learned above all, something driven home by my first political campaign last year when I ran for State Representative, it is that the People matter above all else. I’ve learned you don’t run against other candidates. You run for the People.

I don’t bring a wealth of political experience to the plate. I bring a dogged perseverance to find solutions, a passion to serve, and a love of hard work. I believe I can make a difference in Plains Township . I will ask hard questions. I will look for creative solutions to problems. I will work for you with the same passion I bring to everything I’ve attempted in life. I will be available and accessible.

If you would like to hear a new voice as Commissioner, I ask that you bullet vote for me on November 8.

Thank you, and together let’s make a difference!

James O’Meara, Sr.

James O'Meara, Sr.Republican Candidate for Commissioner